{"id":747,"date":"2015-06-27T01:18:42","date_gmt":"2015-06-27T08:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/?p=747"},"modified":"2015-06-22T17:48:42","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T00:48:42","slug":"kids-brains-and-the-outdoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/featured\/kids-brains-and-the-outdoors\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids, Brains and the Outdoors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-749\" src=\"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/KidsOutdoors.jpg\" alt=\"Kids Outdoors\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/KidsOutdoors.jpg 550w, https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/KidsOutdoors-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>Correlating Cognitive Development and Green Space<\/h1>\n<p>Thirteen researchers from Spain, Norway and the United States recently published the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/early\/2015\/06\/09\/1503402112\" target=\"_blank\">results of their analysis<\/a> of the relationship between cognitive development in kids (age 7 to 10) and their exposure to outdoor green space. \u00a0They tested cognitive performance every three months for a year for \u00a02,593 kids in Spain. \u00a0They looked at the area around each kid&#8217;s school, home and their path between the two and categorized the areas\u00a0by &#8216;greenness.&#8217; \u00a0Then they correlated cognitive development over time with the surroundings in which the kids lived.<\/p>\n<h1>The Findings<\/h1>\n<p>Exposure to green space improved cognitive development. \u00a0\u00a0Of particular importance was the green space around schools. \u00a0The kids saw\u00a0significant improvements in working memory and attentiveness when there was green space\u00a0around\u00a0their schools. These effects did not depend upon\u00a0the socio-economic status\u00a0or education of parents.<\/p>\n<h1>But Why?<\/h1>\n<p>The\u00a0researchers looked at local air pollution using elemental carbon in the air, generally associated with automobile traffic, as a proxy. \u00a0They\u00a0found that reduction in exposure to elemental carbon in the air, associated within being in green space, accounted for 20 to 65% of the improvement in cognitive performance.<\/p>\n<h1>Yes, It Matters<\/h1>\n<p>This study adds to the growing body of research on the relationship between being outdoors in nature and various aspects of life. \u00a0Whether its cognitive function in kids or anxiety in adults or any of a number of other issues, the studies consistently show that there are great benefits for getting out into the fields and woods. \u00a0Some studies have even shown that the benefits improve when you add a lake or river to the outdoor experience.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to feel better in many ways, \u00a0get out and explore!<\/p>\n<h1>Please Share<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">#cognition #neuroscience #kidsoutdoors<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Correlating Cognitive Development and Green Space Thirteen researchers from Spain, Norway and the United States recently published the results of their analysis of the relationship between cognitive development in kids (age 7 to 10) and their exposure to outdoor green space. \u00a0They tested cognitive performance every three months for a year for \u00a02,593 kids in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,22,4,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-health","category-mental","category-motivation","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":764,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}